


Consequences be Damned

by GollyDolly007



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-23
Updated: 2015-06-06
Packaged: 2018-03-31 20:35:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3991906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GollyDolly007/pseuds/GollyDolly007
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some of the thoughts of the inhabitants of Storybrooke after the climatic finale to season four?<br/>There's two at the moment but I may write more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic and I would love to hear your opinions and suggestions. :)

Was it selfish to be so worried about your husband that you didn’t have enough room for being worried about anyone else?  


Belle knew that the world was going to hell out there. The darkness was free and who knew what it was capable of? In Rumple it had been a devastating force, but free? It could be an unholy terror.  


But she didn’t care enough to check the score.  


Her husband – Her Rumple – might not wake up. And that, more than the darkness, terrified her.  


Belle had already survived weeks without him. She had stood at the town lines and listened to the man she had promised forever weep and rage in fear and pain.  


And she had walked away because it was the right thing to do.  


Because it would help protect others. Because it would protect her; and she didn’t think she could break any further.  


And then she did. When he came back and the first thing he did was deceive her. When he rescued her heart and told her all he wanted was for her to be happy. When she was his fantasy and he was a hero to please her. And when she realized they had a chance, and for one moment she had hope.  


But then that moment was over and reality came crashing down.  


And Belle didn’t think she could survive losing him again.  


Not now. When the darkness was gone from him and she had the strength and wisdom to accept what was left.  


Not now that she knew what kind of man he could be, and wanted to be.  


Not when she had had a glimpse of what their life could be like. With a home and children. With love and peace. With both of them together.  


Rumple couldn’t die now.  


Please.  


No.  


And that was why Belle didn’t care what was happening out there, with the darkness.  


Because it didn’t matter to her if the darkness won out there, if something happened to Rumple in here.  


Because if anything happened to Rumple; She had nothing, and no one, to go on to.  


Belle was done being a hero.


	2. Damned if I do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumpelstiltskin's thoughts as he wakes up after the season for finale  
> Maybe.

The first thing that Rumpelstiltskin felt as he awoke was light, as though a ton of cement had been lifted from his chest. It was not a feeling that he was at all used to. Usually the first thing he felt as he wakes is a heaviness that makes getting out of bed even more difficult. But this…This was like when Bae was a boy and they had a festival day. Bae used to get so excited and for one day Rumpelstiltskin could forget that he was the coward son of narcissistic lay-about, whose wife didn’t even think he was worth saving. For one day he was Baelfire’s father and that was enough. Even when he was with Belle, the feeling of heaviness remained. Reminding him that no matter how he tried to be the man that Belle deserved, he would never be more than a monster.

It was these thoughts that distracted Rumpelstiltskin from the knowledge that there was someone asleep on his arm. And, this gave him pause a minute. The only people who ever slept this close to him had all left a long time ago, Belle being the last to realize his utter uselessness as human (and sometimes not so human) being. And when she had finally realized his lack of desire to change, she had high-tailed it out of there as fast as she could.  


Rumpelstiltskin turned his head to look at the face of the person lying next to him, but was unable to as there was a mass of brown curls covering the person’s face. 

Belle.

Rumpelstiltskin’s heart began to ache as it always did whenever he thought of his wife and how he had treated her and betrayed her trust. 

From the first time he had chosen his power over her and kicked her out into the cold and supposed death. When he broke his word and went after Regina. When he kept his search for Bae from her. When he treated her as Lacey, though he knew how abhorrent Lacey’s behaviour would be to her once she awoke. And when he murdered Zelena in cold blood, though even his warped conscience berated him for it.

Through all of these, these crimes, Belle had stood with him, had been his strength, the best part of him. But it was the sealing of the most sacred promise that he could make to her, the promise to be true to her forever, with a fake dagger - with a lie - and all that came after, that finally drove her away.

Rumple never blamed her for what she did. All through their relationship he had felt as though he were waiting for the other shoe to drop. For Belle to wake up and realize that he was not, nor ever could be a hero. That he was a coward and more, that he was a selfish coward. Selfish for keeping her, for tying her to him. For taking away the life she might have known.

That was why he had searched so desperately for the author. Not just to try and prevent his heart from blackening completely. Not just to change the rules so that he could finally win and be seen as a hero, not reviled as a villain. But so that he had the chance to offer Belle a happy, safe life. The life she should have had. 

And that had been a total failure. Oh sure, he got to be the hero that everyone adored. And he had Belle and a child and a home. But that was all just window dressing. Underneath it all, he was still a coward and the first time trouble came knocking at his door, he folded and turned back to his old ways.

And he lost her again.

And he deserved to lose her.

What right did he have to keep trying to win and keep her when he couldn’t even put her first? When all his survival instincts were to protect himself? 

None.

And so, when she came to the shop after the curse had been broken, he was prepared. He was prepared to let her go. To see her be happy with someone else. And to lose that last little piece of humanity, buried deeply within his heart.

And then she blew all his noble intentions away. She said that she didn’t love Will. She said that she wasn’t going to let him die alone. 

And Rumple knew that she would never give up on him. Not completely. No matter what he did or didn’t do. And Even when the dark one took over, she would hope and never stop believing in him.

And that terrified him.

Because now he knew he had no other chances. If he didn’t get it right now, it would seriously hurt Belle, worse than ever before. And that was something Rumpelstiltskin refused to do.

So this time he would succeed in being the man Belle needed. This time he would be a hero. This time he would be good!

Rumpelstiltskin was done being a coward.


End file.
